Back at the Hawthrone Pack house, the atmosphere was

charged with a different kind of chaos.

Bob Hawthrone, Ethan’s father and the true backbone of the

family, had returned from an urgent business trip overseas

after getting wind of the scandal. The moment he stepped into

the drawing room, his face was like thunder.

“This is what you’ve done with my name?” he growled, eyes

zing at Ethan. “You disgrace your Luna in public, humiliate

your pack, and now I return to find your mistress sshed all

over the inte like a failed soap opera?”

Ethan didn’t speak.

“I trusted you to lead with strength and intelligence, and

instead, you’ve let your emotions and bedroom y destroy

everything.”

Amelia, sitting on the edge of the leather sofa, spoke up quietly.

“Bob, don’t be so hard on him. He just—”

“Don’t.” Bob cut her off. “Don’t defend this circus. Olivia stood by

us through every winter, every harvest, every negotiation.

She’s ten times the Chole Windsor could ever be.”

Amelia’s lips lightened.

“She’s cold” she said. ‘Olivia has always been… distant. Maybe

it’s not all Ethan’s fault”

Bob gave her a sharp nce. “I’m telling you–if we still want to

keep what we’ve built, Ethan needs to fix this. End things with

Chole. Go make peace with Olivia.”

Amelia was about to argue further when her phone rang.

Unknown number.

She stepped away to take it.

“Hello?”

There was silence for a second. Then a voice–low, hoarse, and

disturbingly calm.

“Auntie Amelia,” Chole whispered on the other end.

Amelia froze.

“Chole…? Are you–how are you even-”

“I’m alive. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Why are you calling me?” Amelia’s voice dropped to a hush, as

if someone might overhear.

Chole let out a softugh. It sounded hollow. “I know what you

Chapter b57 /b

did… at Eden Manor”

Amelia’s heart skipped a beat.

“I knoweverything.”

A cold sweat broke out on her back.

“Chole, listen. You’re not well. This isn’t the time-”

“I just wanted to thank you,” Chole interrupted, her voice

syrupy sweet. “Because now, I’m going to marry your son. We’ll

be one big, happy family.”

There was a pause.

“And you know what happens when a family keeps secrets,

right? They rot from the inside.”

The line disconnected.

Amelia stood frozen. The phone still pressed to her ear, and her

breath stuck in her throat. The everposed Luna of the

Hawthrone Pack felt the creeping chill of fear spread down her

spine.

Olivia’s POV

The past five days had been oddly peaceful.

My leg was healing fast–thanks to werewolf genes, painkillers,

and Mike’s miraculous chicken soup–and the swelling had gone

down so much I could almost walk without crutches. Not that

Mike let me. Every time I tried, he’d wave a spat at me like I

was breaking sacredws.

“You sit,” he’d say, dragging over the wheelchair. “Even queens

get carried when injured.”

Honestly, I didn’t argue. His food was too good to risk being

exiled from his kitchen.

Ava called in the morning. “Liv, Ethan’s in shambles. Everyone’s

dragging him on the inte for turning a blind eye while his

mistress got pped. He can’t even show his face in public

without being called a spineless golden retriever!”

I nearly choked on my tea.

“You okay?” Ava asked.

“Yeah, I coughed. “Just–‘golden retriever‘?”

“Well, the loyal kind. Except he didn’t end up being loyal, so…

mutt, maybe?”

“Let’s go with that.”

Apparently, Ethan had been too busy doing damage control

after the Chole incident to bother me again. Rose had confirmed

that he hadn’t shown up at my ce since that night. Good. The

less drama, the better.

“I also told Dad to take Mom abroad for a while,” I told Ava. “Just

until this whole Windsor mess dies down. But they haven’t

booked the tickets yet.”

“Maybe they’re not worried because they know you’re

protected.”

“Protected?”

“Liv, do you think people didn’t notice what Alexander did for

you at the g? That wasn’t just polite manners. That was a

stand. The Windsors aren’t idiots. They’ll think twice before

doing anything.”

That did make sense, though I hadn’t dwelled on it too much.

Mostly because Alpha Alexander had beenpletely avoiding

me since I moved into his penthouse.

At first, I thought he was just busy. But then I realized–he was

doing it for me. To avoid more gossip. To not make my recovery

ufortable.

Thoughtful. Too thoughtful. It was messing with my head.

That evening, I offered to help Mike with dinner. He looked

scandalized but handed me a pair of gloves and let me peel

potatoes while he chopped vegetables.

“Have you seen Alexander today?” I asked, keeping my tone

casual.

Mike hesitated. “He left this morning.”

“Work?”

“Family,” he said. “His parents called him in. For a blind date!””

I blinked. “A what?”

Mike chuckled. “Yep. As the Green Pack’s heir, his marriage is

sort of… a public interest. Apparently, his mom’s worried he’ll

die alone in a suit and a frown.”

I snorted. “Doesn’t he hate those kind of things?”

“He does. They tried once, two years ago. The girl cried halfway

through and the waiter spilled wine on his coat. Never again.

But now that he’s back in China, they’re insisting.”

I looked down at the half–peeled potato in my hand. A blind

date? Alexander?

“He’s… actually going?”

“Couldn’t get out of it,” Mike said. “Apparently, they’re trying to

arrange an alliance through marriage. Very old–school.”

I didn’t know why it bothered me. It wasn’t like I had any say in

who Alexander dated. He was calm, stoic,pletely

unattached to people–except when it came to defending me in

public, cooking dinner, and picking me up like I weighed.

nothing.

C